Democracy Was The Ultimate Victim Of The House Of Commons Antics

When famed travel writer Jan Morris visited Ottawa in 1986, she was struck with immediate impressions of its rugged grandeur, just as most first-time tourists come to see it. From one vantage point she looked out over the Parliament buildings and was filled with awe. "Half a continent looks towards Ottawa ... upon those very buildings on the hill above me."

Morris wrote that, in the midst of the majesty, she viewed Ottawa, "less a city than an abstraction." It's presumed that she meant the capital's great structures housed some kind of impressive spirit and saw them as reflective of Canada's people.

One wonders how many Canadians are left who actually view Ottawa that way, given what erupted in the House of Parliament this week. The sight of a prime minister walking down the centre aisle to compel the Opposition whip to take his proper place, in the process bumping into a female NDP MP, and the melee that resulted came out of the blue to the casual observer. For the seasoned veterans watching the debates and procedural wrangling, however, there was the sense that something was about to explode -- such were the tempers flaring over long and exhausting hours.

I sat in that hallowed House for almost five years and witnessed the kind of antics that you really never wanted to tell your constituents about because it was so, well, embarrassing. I watched various members bolt across the aisle to take someone to task and understood that such eruptions didn't just come out of thin air, but followed days, weeks, even months of partisan rhetoric pushing and pulling the emotions of the members repeatedly to a kind of breaking point. But not once did the prime minister, or any prime minister, take the kind of action Justin Trudeau opted for this week.

Much is being stated about what actually happened, with pundits and partisans labelling it violence against women to something of a mild dust-up, and everything in between. Some things are clear. As the leading elected official, the prime minister erred significantly in his actions, and his subsequent apologies contain a hint of his awareness of how Parliament was belittled through his action. And when NDP members sought to keep the Opposition Whip from proceeding down the aisle with his government counterpart, they too played their own erring part in the twisted plot. So many mistakes were made during that brief melee that the interpretation of the events will be going on for weeks.

Of course people will forget what happened this week, but the sense of idealism that many still retained now carries a sense of innocence lost.

The fallout will linger, but eventually the House will get back to normal -- rancour, resentment, willful obstruction, hyper-partisan language, with a dose of respect, deference, and humour thrown in. This was not the "new normal" Canadians thought they were voting for in October's election and the events of this week, though likely to fall away from Trudeau in the coming months, have nevertheless left a kind of collective shock on the public consciousness and left Parliament tainted with doubt. For Canadians this wasn't about "sunny ways," but a more collaborative governing style that caused them to vote as they did. This week they were confronted with the reality that it might not be transpiring.

Putting aside the political fallout that will inevitably emerge from all the shenanigans, who has truly been hurt by what took place?

For the new Speaker of the House, Geoff Regan, it was a low-water mark so early into a new Parliamentary season. I know him well from our many conversations in Ottawa in previous times and he will take this hard. He was a respected Liberal MP for years, and when elected to his new post by his peers there was the hope that he could use his earned capital to bring the parties to the bargaining table. Trudeau's action, the obstruction of Thomas Mulcair and his cronies, the Conservative members fanning the flames, might not so much have put an end to Regan's hopes but revealed they were never possible in the first place. All offending parties owe the Speaker not only an apology, but a commitment to hearken to his seasoned counsel.

Inevitably the hope of millions of Canadians that a new era of innovation, accountability, even a begrudging respectfulness would instill the House with a sense of purpose has taken a body blow. Of course people will forget what happened this week, but the sense of idealism that many still retained now carries a sense of innocence lost. Their hopes now seem simply naïve as opposed to transcendent.

Jan Morris's sense that this embattled city is somehow an abstraction of the best of the Canadian people now seems a pipe dream. A city of distraction is more like it and only a collective mea culpa in the House can perhaps pull it back from the edge of the deeply partisan dysfunction from which we hoped we had escaped.

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Trudeau's 7 New Senate Appointments

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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced seven new Senate appointments on Friday, March 18. The new senators fill vacancies in Ontario, Manitoba and Quebec.
Here is more information on each, from The Canadian Press.

He spent 29 years in the federal public service, including 16 years as a deputy minister and four years as the personal representative of the prime minister to three G8 Summits. He was appointed by Trudeau to manage the Liberal transition into government last fall.
Harder, then-secretary of the Treasury Board of Canada, is shown at a news conference on Nov. 10, 1999.

Justice Murray Sinclair. He was the first Aboriginal judge appointed in Manitoba and only the second in Canada. He was the chief commissioner of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which investigated the legacy of the residential school system and delivered a landmark report in 2015.
Sinclair is shown speaking during the closing events for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Ottawa, Monday June 1, 2015.

She has won over 20 medals for Canada in the sport of wheelchair racing, beginning at the 1992 Paralympic Games in Barcelona. She is chef de mission for Canada's team at the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
Petitclerc shows off her five gold medals from the 2008 Beijing Paralympics at Trudeau airport in Montreal Friday, Sept. 19, 2008.

Author and journalist, he spent 14 years as editor-in-chief of the Quebec daily paper La Presse. He is one of the founders of a Quebec think tank on federalism.
Journalist and author Andre Pratte autographs copies of the book 'Reconquerir Le Canada' (Reconquering Canada), in Montreal, Thursday, Nov. 8, 2007.

Most recently, Lankin spent 10 years running the United Way in Toronto, taking that job after years as an NDP cabinet minister and MPP in Ontario. From 2009 to 2016, she was a member of the Security Intelligence Review Committee, the oversight body for the country's security agencies.
Governor General David Johnston welcomes Frances Lankin into the Order of Canada during a ceremony at Rideau Hall Friday November 22, 2013 in Ottawa.

She has worked in education for over 35 years. She served as president of Universite Saint-Boniface from 2003 to 2014. She was responsible for the college obtaining full university status and has been honoured for increasing the range of educational opportunities available in French in the province.
Governor General David Johnston presents the Order of Canada to Raymonde Gagne during an investiture ceremony at Rideau Hall in Ottawa on Wednesday, September 23, 2015.

Recognized globally for her contributions to increasing the inclusion of immigrants, she is currently the founding executive director of a think tank at Ryerson University's school of management that focuses on diversity, migration and inclusion. She is the chair of Lifeline Syria, which seeks to bring 1,000 privately sponsored Syrian refugees to Toronto. She also serves on the boards of the Centre for Mental Health and Addiction, The Environics Institute, and Samara.
Lifeline Syria's Chair Ratna Omidvar works with volunteers at the organization's offices in Toronto on Friday, September 4, 2015.

UP NEXT: Trudeau's First Cabinet

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has kept his promise of a smaller, gender-balanced cabinet.
At 31 ministers (including him), Trudeau's first cabinet features many new faces and some veterans.

Minister of Finance
Morneau is the former executive chair of Morneau Shepell, one of Canada's largest human resources firms.

Minister of Foreign Affairs
An MP since 1996, Dion served as Canada's intergovernmental affairs minister under Jean Chrétien and environment minister under Paul Martin. He served as Liberal leader and leader of the Official Opposition from 2006 to 2008.

Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada
Wilson-Raybould is a former Crown prosecutor and regional chief of the B.C. Assembly of First Nations.

Minister of International Trade
An MP since 2013, Freeland was courted by Trudeau's team when she was a senior editor at Thomson Reuters in New York City.A Rhodes scholar, she is a well-known author and journalist. She was part of Trudeau's team of economic advisers.

Minister of Health
Philpott is a family physician, associate professor at the University of Toronto, and former chief of the department of family medicine at Markham Stouffville Hospital.

Minister of National Defence
Sajjan is a retired lieutenant colonel who served in Afghanistan and was the first Sikh to command a Canadian Army regiment. He also served as a Vancouver police officer for 11 years.

Minister of the Environment and Climate Change
McKenna was a former legal adviser for the United Nations peacekeeping mission in East Timor and founded Canadian Lawyers Abroad (now known as Level), a charity focused on global justice issues.

Minister of Employment, Workforce Development, and Labour
Mihychuk was an NDP MLA in Manitoba from 1995 to 2004, serving as minister of industry, trade, and mines, and later minister of intergovernmental affairs.

Minister of Infrastructure and Communities
An Edmonton city councillor since 2007, Sohi immigrated to Canada from India 35 years ago. He spent time as a political prisoner in India in the late 1980s.

Minister of Canadian Heritage
Joly, 36, made a name for herself by finishing second to ex-Liberal cabinet minister Denis Coderre in the Montreal mayoral race in 2013. She's a lawyer and communications expert.

Minister of Democratic Institutions
Monsef, a community organizer, was born in Afghanistan. She fled the Taliban and came to Canada as a refugee with her widowed mother and sisters in 1996.

Minister of Veterans Affairs and Associate Minister of National Defence
Hehr was an Alberta MLA from 2008 to 2015, was one of just two Liberals elected in Calgary. In 1991, he was the victim of a drive-by shooting that left him confined to a wheelchair.

Minister of Sport and Persons with Disabilities
Qualtrough is a lawyer and former Paralympian. Legally blind, she won three Paralympic and four World Championship medals for Canada in swimming and was president of the Canadian Paralympic Committee.

Minister of Families, Children, and Social Development
Duclos is a renowned economist who taught at at Laval University.

Minister of Natural Resources
Carr, a former Manitoba MLA and deputy leader of the Manitoba Liberal Party, served as president of the Business Council of Manitoba from 1998 to 2014.

Minister of Public Services and Procurement
An MP since 2008 and the party whip, Foote previously held several cabinet portfolios in Brian Tobin's provincial government.

Minister of Transport
The former astronaut, navy engineer, president of the Canadian Space Agency and Liberal leadership contender was first elected in 2008. He has served as an industry and foreign affairs critic.

Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness
The finance minister under Paul Martin's government, Goodale was the only Liberal elected in Saskatchewan.

Minister of Innovation, Science, and Economic Development
An MP from 2004 to 2011, Bains regained his seat this year. In addition to being a certified management accountant, holding an MBA, and teaching at Ryerson University, Bains was an important Trudeau organizer and also served on the Liberals' national election readiness committee.

President of the Treasury Board
An MP since 1997, Brison was the public works minister and receiver general of Canada in Paul Martin's government. He had been the Liberal spokesman on economic issues and the vice-chair of the Commons' committee on finance.

Minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs
A family physician who has been an MP since 1997, Bennett was Canada's first minister of state for public health and oversaw the 2003 response to the SARS epidemic. In recent years, Bennett has served as the party's vocal critic on aboriginal affairs.

Minister of Fisheries, Oceans, and the Canadian Coast Guard
A former MLA and speaker of the Nunavut legislative assembly, Tootoo held several cabinet positions in the territory and has extensive government administration experience.

Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food
An MP since 1988, MacAulay has served as solicitor general of Canada, minister of labour, secretary of state for veterans and secretary of state for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency. In the last Parliament, MacAulay was the critic for fisheries and oceans.

Leader of the Government in the House of Commons
The Liberals' House leader in the last Parliament, LeBlanc was sworn in as a privy councillor in 2004 when, under Paul Martin, he served as parliamentary secretary to the leader of the government in the House and deputy government whip. He is a childhood friend of Trudeau's

Minister of Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship
First elected in 2000, McCallum, a former chief economist at the Royal Bank of Canada, served as minister of national defence and minister of veterans affairs under Jean Chrétien. He was named minister of national revenue under Paul Martin and was also tasked with leading an expenditure review of government spending.

Minister of Small Business and Tourism
Chagger, 35, worked for the Kitchener-Waterloo Multicultural Centre. She also worked on Trudeau's leadership campaign.

Minister of National Revenue
A small business owner who has been an elected warden for the Regional County Municipality of Rocher Percé since 2010, Lebouthillier won a seat in Gaspé that the Liberals haven't held in more than a decade.

Minister of International Development and La Francophonie
Bibeau worked for the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) in Ottawa, Montréal, Morocco and Benin, Africa, before settling and launching her own business in her riding.

Minister of Science
Elected in 2008, Duncan taught meteorology, climatology, climate change, and medical geography at the university level.